For many years it was a junior college but is now a baccalaureate institution providing more than thirty academic majors.

[1][2][3] It is sometimes suggested that Martin did so in fulfilment of a promise to his daughter Victoria, who died at the age of twenty.

[8] The name University of Tennessee-Southern was chosen because the campus serves the 13 counties of southern Middle Tennessee.

The university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Mid-South Conference (MSC) since the 2020–21 academic year.

Competitive trap and skeet shooting was added as the department's 15th varsity sport in the fall of 2013.